Article by
Barbados Today

Published on
April 8, 2016

Vice president of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), Emmanuel Nanthan, is standing by his criticism of Darren Sammy’s post game speech in which he disparaged the organisation, accusing them of disrespecting the players.

Nanthan said his defence of the WICB was rooted in facts and accused Sammy of reducing the significance of the team’s triumph over England in the finals of the ICC World Twenty20.

“Facts are facts and facts sometimes are stubborn things, so I just put things in place as they were. I said, basically, the question of uniforms was really a non-issue because they were ordered by the board to be delivered at a certain time which the company did because they met the contractual arrangements. They did not put the numbers on the uniform because we didn’t know which players were going to play,” he said.

“This is a time for Caribbean people to celebrate and we shouldn’t be ding-dong and washing our linen in front of the whole world. And besides, it’s an ICC event and at a time when our sponsors are getting maximum benefit for their sponsorship, we shouldn’t be dirtying it in anyway,” he added.

In his speech, Sammy said that his team felt ‘disrespected by our board’, referring to the lengthy pay dispute that had put their participation in the tournament in jeopardy.

Cameron had already appeared to take offence at Sammy’s remarks by Tweeting: “When is the last time a critic paid one of your bills? Always remember that when you start to give them your energy.”

According to Nanthan, however, his issue with Sammy was not of a personal nature.

“Darren Sammy, to me, we’ve always had a father and son relationship. I met Darren Sammy when he was a reserve, at 15 years old, for the Windwards youth team. He wasn’t on the team and I, as manager, insisted that he should be on the team and as a matter of a fact, 15 years ago or maybe a little more, I went against the selectors and the president of the Windward board and said, ‘I am the manager here and Darren Sammy is the man we should bring on board’,” the WICB vice president said.

“We have had a very close relationship so I wasn’t criticising Darren Sammy. I was trying to put some facts straight so we could move forward. I am not vexed with Sammy or the players at all.”

West Indies players will share the entire $1.6 million prize money for winning the men’s World Twenty20 title as well as a portion of sponsorship revenue, the head of the region’s cricket board said on Sunday.

But WICB chief executive Michael Muirhead said his organisation should take some of the credit for the West Indies’ success in India, with the nation’s women’s side also beating Australia in their World T20 final.